UPPER SOUTHAMPTON — In a building where shoppers once sought out deals on everything from bunk beds to china cabinets, Holy Redeemer Health System is now diagnosing cancer and providng other services focused on breast care.

The health system created its Holy Redeemer Women’s HealthCare at Southampton in what was once a furniture store at a cost of $1.5 million.

The 12,000-square-foot center is serving as the new home for Holy Redeemer Comprehensive Breast Care Surgeons, a physician practice led by breast cancer specialists Drs. Beth Baughman DuPree,
Stacy Krisher and Catherine Carruthers.

The center combines traditional high-tech medical imaging technology and diagnostic services with the holistic approach to treating breast cancer favored by the trio of surgeons.

“We wanted to create a healing environment — something that looked totally nonhealth care,” said Dupree. “That’s why you see the bamboo floors and the color combinations on the walls. People look at that stuff. I’ve already had two people compliment me on the paintings we have up on the walls.”

In addition to ultrasound, mammogram, stereotactic biopsy and bone densitometry services, the women’s health center is also embracing a variety of complementary therapies such as therapeutic message and yoga.

“We’re also looking to add belly dancing,” Dupree said. “That’s a great exercise for women.”

A lymphedema therapy program, to treat a side effect of radiation therapy that causes swelling in the arms and legs, is expected to start at the center early next year.

The center also features the Profile Shop, a place where woman receiving cancer treatment or recovering from mastectomies can go to be fitted for prostheses, surgical bras and specialized garments. A professional hair stylist and beauty consultant is available to help women who require wig fittings and makeup strategies during treatment and recovery periods. The facility also features a medical manicurist to deal with the special nail care required for women receiving chemotherapy.

The Foundation for Healing Consciousness, a nonprofit organization led by Dupree, has provided funding to allow Holy Redeemer for patients to receive holistic therapies, and even custom-made mammography gowns that are warmed before wearing, at no cost.

The women’s health center at 45 Second Street Pike is Holy Redeemer’s first facility in Bucks County, but it’s only a few miles down the road from Holy Redeemer Hospital in the Meadowbrook section of Abington.

“We wanted this to be in our prime service area,” said Marian Thallner, vice president of women’s and children’s services at Holy Redeemer. “We draw patients from Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northeast Philadelphia.”

Holy Redeemer isn’t the only area hospital to expand its presence in Bucks County, as providers look to get closer to potential patients.

Earlier this month, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children opened a multispecialty center — StChris Care at Bucks County — in Yardley. The North Philadelphia pediatric medical center’s fifth such facility is staffed by pediatric specialists in cardiology, general surgery, neurosurgery and orthopedics.

Last year Fox Chase Cancer Center opened a radiation treatment center in Buckingham, while the Rothman Institute opened a specialty orthopedic hospital in Bensalem.

Thallner said Holy Redeemer isn’t seeking to expand its footprint in Bucks County because the center is in the middle of its existing service area.

“This isn’t a Bucks County story; it’s a women’s health story,” she said, “It’s about helping women [with breast cancer] get back to a normal life as quickly as possible.”

Thallner said women’s health services is a key service line for Holy Redeemer, which has already demonstrated its commitment to the area through initiatives such as the ongoing $10 million expansion of its maternity department and Drueding Center, a transitional housing program for homeless women and their children in North Philadelphia.

“We truly believe if we can improve the health of women, we improve the health of the community at large because so often it’s a woman who takes responsibility for the health of the children and the spouse and parents,” she said. “It’s what we do as women.”

Thomas E. Getzen, a professor of health-care management at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, said providing mammograms and diagnostic services related to breast care is a “lucrative” service line for hospitals.

He said the Holy Redeemer women’s health center will have to compete with the growing number of area freestanding radiology and ambulatory-care centers being developed by hospitals and physicians to take advantage of changing regulations and reimbursement rules governing health-care providers.

Thallner said the key attribute of the new women’s health center in Upper Southampton is the speed at which it can provide a diagnosis. She said a women coming in for a routine mammogram can receive additional screenings immediately if an abnormality is found, then have a biopsy performed if necessary by one of the breast surgeons on site the same day — provided the patient’s insurance coverage doesn’t require the patient to go elsewhere. Biopsy test results from the pathology laboratory come back within 24 hours, she said.

“I don’t know any place that can do it quicker,” Thallner said. “Patients don’t have to go home and make an appointment [with a breast surgeon], which could take weeks. They spend all that time worrying. Being able to go from having a mammogram and [if needed] a biopsy the same day will make a huge difference for patients.”

Thallner said the key was getting the radiologists and breast surgeons to work together in a coordinated fashion.

Dupree is hopeful the center’s wellness programs will attract women from the communities around the center who have not been diagnosed with breast cancer. “If we can promote health and wellness now,” she said. “We may not have to treat the illness later on.”